30% driving licences in India are fake: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari minced no words in criticising the current system of licensing and penalty system for traffic violations as he introduced the bill.

ET Bureau|

Jul 16, 2019, 07.55 AM IST

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ANI

Nitin Gadkari

NEW DELHI: About 30% driving licences in India are fake, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha on Monday as he made a strong pitch for passage of the much-delayed Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill.

Gadkari minced no words in criticising the current system of licensing and penalty system for traffic violations as he introduced the bill. “If there is any place in the world where you can get licences easily, it is here in India. It is the easiest to get a driver’s licence. If you see the photographs on licences, they don’t match. People drive without any fear or respect for law. Nobody cares about Rs 50-100 challans, they just cross the policemen on the roads without a care,” he said.

The minister said that 150,000 people die in road accidents in the country every year. “It is my biggest failure that I could not bring the legislation despite trying for over four years. But let’s now pass it and save lives,” he said.

Citing accident figures, Gadkari said, “Despite our best efforts we have been able to reduce the number of accidents by 3-4% in India but in Tamil Nadu it has been reduced by 15%. We hope to emulate the Tamil Nadu model and curb accidents.”

Opposition parties opposed the bill saying its introduction was an infringement on state governments’ territory. “Either convince me or get convinced,” Gadkari told Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy when the latter opposed the bill.